LOGINHe was clad in black leather clothes from up to toe, black gloves on his hands. Hair melted together, dropped around his face like he had just toweled them dry. He looked like he was going for a ride.
The painting remained in my hand, and his sharp hypnotizing oceanic blue eyes remained on me. “What the fuck are you doing in my room?” I wasn’t expecting that. But I wasn’t going to run off like I hadn’t seen anything either. “This is me…you have a painting of me.” I said, not avoiding eyes contact even though it was torture looking at him like this. He stormed towards me without words and snatched the painting from me. “Shit. You weren’t supposed to see that.” “Why?” I asked. I wanted to know everything. “Do you go around entering people’s rooms and pulling covers off private things, Teyana?” His voice wrapped around my name like a challenge. “Well, it is not so private anymore because that’s me in there.” I stated defiantly. He took a step forward. I didn’t move. He closed the space between us and my breath hitched. Memories of when we kissed flooded my head yet again. I blinked as we looked into each other’s eyes. I was slowly losing awareness of my surroundings, because all I could see was him. “Get out,” I jolted out of the cocoon I was in. Did he just order me to go out? “No.” I said with defiance. I deserved clarity. He couldn’t do this to me. Then with a look that sat almost vulnerable on his face, and a softer tone that gave me chills to my bones, he said, “Teyan, Please. Just get out of here before I do what I’m not supposed to do.” I shivered, as I felt his hand already on my waist, squeezing and grazing. My whole body shook. His blue eyes were now darker with what looked like intense want. Tears grazed my eyes. Jeremy wanted me? Has he always wanted me? I didn’t wait to confirm. I pivoted on my feet and started to run away but before I could slip past his room, his footsteps sounded behind me then the next thing I felt was his hand closing around my waist and pulling me to him. I gasped. His grip was hot, almost possessive. I didn’t understand. I felt his breath on my neck, fanning like it was trying to make a statement. “You want to talk?” His thumb slid up my waist, brushing the skin beneath my top. “Or do you want me to make you feel exactly the way I painted you?” His voice was breathless. He was aching…for me? My heart stopped. Then he turned me around and stared into my eyes like he wanted to see through my soul. I couldn’t feel myself. “Teyan,” was all he breathed before he joined his lips with mine without my approval. Hard. It was more than a kiss, it lacked gentleness and hesitation. It was wild and dominant, like he was trying to join my soul with his. I gasped, and he took it as an invitation to deepen the kiss, his tongue parting my lips, claiming me like he’d been starving for this moment. I grabbed his shirt, fisting the fabric just to stay upright. His body pressed into mine, firm and demanding, his other hand sliding up the back of my neck, tangling in my hair as he tilted my head to kiss me deeper. Harder. Like he needed to erase every trace of space between us. My back hit the wall. I didn’t even know we’d moved. He groaned into my mouth as his thigh pushed between mine, parting them. My body betrayed me completely, grinding into him with a whimper I couldn’t hold back. “Damn Teyan, you really want me to claim you like the dirty books you read?” I paused for a moment. What? He realized my shock as he panted away his arousal. His eyes came back to meet mine. His lips grazed mine as he spoke in whispers. “I knew. I was here before your mum introduced us.” He gasped against my lips, then continued, not minding the shock on my face. “Imagine my shock when my Dad showed me your picture. Said you were my stepsister. I went to your room thinking you were there. Instead, I saw the opened book on your bed.” “You…you saw that?” I didn’t even know what to say. I didn’t know which was more surreal. That Jeremy and I were making out or that he had painted me or that he had seen my dirty secret. “Yeah. Turned out I wasn’t the only one with a dirty secret. I saw the note. The one you slipped in between the book, talking about how you wished Jeremy Carter could do what you read to you.” Yes I heard that. But, my heightened arousal didn’t allow me to feel embarrassed because I was soaking wet. “God, Jer.” I moaned as his face grazed my neck, hands wandering around my thighs. “Do you really want me to do those things to you? Because since that dare, I couldn’t stop imagining ruining a particular nerd” I couldn’t speak. I was a mess. He remembered. God, he did. “You are my own dirty fantasy, Teyan.” His lips moved to my jaw, then down my neck, open-mouthed and messy, and I arched into him with a gasp. His teeth scraped gently at my skin, sending shocks down my spine. I could feel him—all of him—hard and thick, bulging against me. And I didn’t care that it was wrong. Or that he was my stepbrother now or he was no more just the obsession I couldn’t get over. Or that we were breaking every rule. I wanted more. “Jeremy,” I breathed, my voice shaking. “We shouldn’t…” Or did I want to say ‘we should’ ? “Tell me to stop,” he growled against my throat. “Right now. Say the words and I will.” I didn’t. I couldn’t. Instead, I pulled him closer. “No. Don’t stop, please.” That was all he needed. He pulled off his leather gloves like they were a burden to him, then he gripped my thighs and lifted me effortlessly, and I wrapped my legs around his waist as he carried me to the bed like I weighed nothing. Our mouths collided again, faster, wetter, more desperate, and I couldn’t tell where I ended and he began. His hands were under my shirt. Sliding up. Finding my bra and pushing it out of the way. His thumbs rolled over my nipples, making me moan into his kiss. He pulled my shirt up, and stared at my naked boobs then took a moment to stare at them with dilated pupils. “I painted you right. I knew you were quite busty underneath those busty sweaters.” Then he lowered himself and attacked a sharp pointed nipple into his lips. I never knew it was possible to ache this wildly for a man. He sucked my nipple gently then bit it, and moved to the other pointing bud, doing the same. I arched into him. I was dripping wet, I could feel my arousal all over my thighs. “God, you taste exactly how I imagined,” he groaned. He pulled away for a moment and looked into my eyes—intensely. Shit, what was this man doing to me? I didn’t expect what he said next. “Stay away from Zayne, Teyan. He’s bad news.” It took me a moment to remember who he was talking about. I wanted to ask questions, but then, Jeremy kissed my forehead. Nothing else mattered henceforth. He rejoined his lips with mine and I welcomed it with all of me. Little did I know that, I should have stopped it. I should have said no. Because right here, was the very beginning of my ruin.-A long final chapter for the new year? Let’s have it!-~~TEYANA~•Four Years Later•I adjusted my pen in my hand, letting a small sigh escape as I signed yet another book autograph. My hand ached slightly from the continuous scribbling, but I smiled through it. Today, my viral book “Love And Ruin”—the story of Jeremy and me—had officially become a bestseller across multiple countries. Seeing the lines of eager readers waiting for their copies made all the exhaustion worth it.I leaned back slightly on the stool behind the signing table, feeling the gentle weight of my baby bump beneath my soft, red flowing blouse. I smiled in satisfaction as a few readers took selfies with me, their excitement infectious. “Thank you for coming,” I said repeatedly, waving to those leaving the line with their signed copies.Just as I finished my last autograph for the day, a sleek black car screeched to a stop outside. My heart leapt, relief wounding through me. My husband was here.My eyes followed
~Jeremy’s POV~We were all silent for a second.Taylor broke it first. “Wait,” Her eyes narrowed further at Teyana, stepping closer. “What’s your name again? Teyana? You’re our late aunt’s daughter? Her name was Alice.”Teyana nodded. My lips curved in disbelief. “I can’t believe this just turned into a reunion.”“Unbelievable,” Zayne muttered beside us.The girls moved to her bedside immediately. Charlotte brushed Teyana’s hair back affectionately, while Taylor held her hand, eyes shining with familiarity now.“Oh my God,” Taylor squealed. “Our little cousin sister is going to be a mother.”“I can’t wait to tell our mum,” Charlotte added excitedly. “She’d never shut up about how you’re more serious with life than us. Let me tell you a secret, I hated you when she started talking about how you are better than us. I mean…she had only met you a couple of times and wouldn’t shut up. Thank God we don’t even live with her anymore.” “And I had almost hated you when you kissed Jeremy on hi
~Jeremy’s POV~Pregnant.The word wouldn’t leave my head. It kept looping, echoing like it had been branded into my skull. The medic had said it calmly, like it wasn’t a life-altering sentence. Like it was just another diagnosis. Stress-induced fainting. Early pregnancy. Dehydration. Emotional overload. But for me, it had changed everything. My entire body was calm. I hardly remember I won a race today.After stabilizing Teyana at the track's medical unit, they transferred her to a private hospital in Monte Carlo.Now, we were here.I stood by the hospital bed, my body refusing to sit, refusing to relax, refusing to believe that she was really lying there— pale, breathing steadily, and—pregnant. With my baby. It felt surreal. Machines hummed softly around us, monitors blinking, the sterile smell of the room grounding me in a strange way. I was starting to get so familiar with hospitals. The white room didn’t bother me anymore. I had been there a lot this year.I ran a hand through m
~Teyana’s POV~•Hours Earlier•After rushing out of the doctor’s office, I was standing in the parking lot like I’d forgotten how to exist outside those white walls.My hands were shaking as I reached my car-the very one he had purchased for me for my 19th birthday, like my body was still trying to catch up with the truth my mind had just been handed.I was pregnant. Still pregnant.The nurse that attended to me at Vance’ hospital must have assumed the pills worked and didn’t bother to check my pregnancy status. That was why I was discharged the same day.I slid into the driver’s seat but didn’t start the engine. Instead, I pulled out my phone. My thumb hovered over the screen longer than necessary, my breath uneven as I unlocked it. Jeremy’s name was back on my phone. I had unblocked him earlier.I tapped his contact, and his name filled the screen. My chest ached, anticipation and anxiety wounding through me. Would he pick my call? Would he care that I still have his baby? Would he
~Jeremy’s POV~I spotted Maxton outside the lodge, downstairs.He was standing near the concrete railing that separated the paddock from the inner track area, shoulders slightly hunched like he was keeping a low profile. At the sight of him- Relief crashed into my chest first, then something close to pride.I wasn’t seeing him as the one who killed Chris. Circumstances had demanded that. What mattered was that he was here. I closed the distance between us, and pulled him into a hug. It’s been long since I used to see him like a younger brother I didn’t have. I could still remember riding with him for hours, teaching him the core aspects of riding and all.Chris would have killed him.“You’re really here,” I said into his shoulder. “I couldn’t miss today.”I pulled back, gripping his shoulders, scanning his face like I was making sure he was okay. “How the hell did you pull it off?”He exhaled slowly, eyes softening. “You.”I frowned. “Me?”“The lawyer said the statements you wrote h
~Jeremy’s POV~The cigarette burned slowly between my fingers, the smoke curling up toward the wooden ceiling of the lodge like it was searching for a way out. I leaned against the counter by the wide glass window, one shoulder pressed into the cool stone wall, staring out at the stretch of mountains beyond. The morning here in Monaco was quiet in a way that felt peaceful and grounding. I loved it.I shouldn’t have been smoking.I knew that. My lungs needed to be clean. My body needed to be sharp. This race wasn’t some underground run I could muscle through with adrenaline and rage. This was official. International. Precision mattered. Discipline mattered.But the last week had wrecked me.I needed something to take the edge off. Something to quiet the images that kept replaying in my head no matter how hard I tried to focus—blood on white tiles, Teyana’s limped frame that had shaken me to my bones, my father’s hand striking my face, the sound of my own breathing when everything insid







